Angad P. Mehta, associate professor of chemistry and T. M. Balthazor Faculty Scholar at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has won the 2026 Young Chemical Biologist Award from the International Chemical Biology Society.
The Indian American researcher is being recognized for his research work in engineering immune systems for directed evolution of proteins and biologics in human cells, especially the development of continuous directed evolution platforms.
Mehta will deliver his award lecture titled “In vitro immune-like systems for continuous directed evolution of biologics,” at the ICBS 2026 Annual Conference in San Francisco on Oct. 12-15, according to a university release.
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The annual ICBS Young Chemical Biologist awards recognize and advance the career development of young investigators in chemical biology.
The ICBS established a special session at its annual meeting to showcase up-and-coming chemical biologists through the ICBS Young Chemical Biologist Awards. Awardees are scheduled to speak in the Rising Stars session and will be further recognized for their achievements with a certificate and monetary award of $1,000 to each awardee.
Evolution serves as a powerful inspiration for synthetic biology. Mehta uses evolutionary observations to design synthetic biology approaches for answering fundamental molecular question in biological systems or for developing novel translational platforms for human health.
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His key areas of focus include directed evolution and synthetic immunology to combat emerging pathogens, directed endosymbiosis to engineer artificial photosynthetic life forms for photosynthetic biosynthesis and evolutionary studies, and engineering selectivity in targeting cancer.
Mehta’s lab is using principles of directed evolution and biomolecule delivery platforms to engineer novel biologics that specifically target cancers where the biomarkers are well characterized.
His awards and honors include Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Award, Windy City Innovation Award, CBC-HITES, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), EPI award, Moore-Simons Foundation Award and Dow Chemical Scholar Award.
Mehta earned his PhD from Texas A&M University and did his postdoctoral work at the Scripps Research, La Jolla. Mehta joined the faculty at Illinois in 2019.